In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
Melissa beginning the water spitting game.
I was a fraction of a second late, as Jen had just blasted Melissa in the face with water.
Water spray fun gone bad.
This is how the water fun had looked up to the point that Jen switched the rules of play and blasted Melissa in the face instead of going over her head.
We like it when Melissa aka “Just Kidding” joins us on our hikes. Just kidding:-)
Ok, really, I’m just kidding about the second just kidding.
Before our hike even started. Hope Eric doesn't see this and ask Melissa what she is doing.
The poses begin.
Aaaaah, so cute.
Taking turns lifting each other. All for the shot.
Ok Jen, which of these do you like best. This one? Or, the next one.
I'm partial to this one as I see that mischeivious look in your eye.
Boy did I enjoy getting to meet and hike with Shelby on our morning hike. I was debating whether I should venture out and risk getting chilled but decided to just go and boy am I glad I did. Shelby has been involved with photography for years. In the parking lot, seeing that Jen and Shelby were both carrying cameras, I knew I’d made the right decision to hike. Loved our hike.
No clouds, no great color, but we made our own fun.
The fake shoot off.
Wanting to test some flash action, Shelby and Jen willing agreed to oblige.
Where's Shelby, this was on it's way to being a great shot before I cut off Shelby's head. Jen would kill me if I posted a photo of her exposed cute belly.
Ray went for a golf lesson today. Then he went and hit some balls. Back home from the driving range, I could tell he wasn’t too happy. So I asked if he’d like to go out and play some holes. And we did, until it got too cold once the sun set. I’m so lucky I can pick up a golf club after months of not playing and hit the ball (somewhat acceptably).
Out playing golf, well, when I'm not trying to pan shooting the egrets.
Sand shot just before the sun set and we stopped playing.
I lead Saturday hikes for the Mission Hills CC in-season. Today was our second hike since the “Snowbirds” returned to the desert. I don’t know what your weather is like but here in the desert our days are incredibly beautiful.
This morning’s hike began around 8am. There were 10 of us. I enjoyed having Jen join us this morning. A few of today’s hikers will be joining Jen, Ann, me, and Katya on a 7am hike tomorrow morning.
We are not a glum lot!
More photos from today’s hike HERE.
Beginning photo from this morning's hike. Tina, Ann and Jen. Tina was in the desert with her mom visiting her mom's friends.
Nothing pleases me more than seeing the girls have fun with each other. Tina and Jen.
These photo jumping sessions on our hikes are definitely attitude adjusting. We laugh so hard. At one point I wanted Tina to jump high like Jen. Tina tried. Later in the hike I happened to mention that Jen was a gymnast. Tina quickly turned back to me and said, "Jen was a gymnast and you wanted me to jump as high as Jen?"
Groggy and half asleep, we meet at 5:45 am and walk in the alley behind the Vons shopping center parking lot to get to the trailhead. It’s dark and it’s scary in the alley. We walk in silence because we are still in that morning, “don’t talk to me mode”. Until… we reach the window where the 50s and up are enthusiastically moving in the Jazzercise class led by a most energetic man, standing on some elevated structure up front. Then, through the laughter, conversations begin. We find ourselves saying, “Wow, they’re really into this”. No judgment here as we make our way up the hill.
The early morning Jazzercisers.
We don’t usually hike in the afternoon but I’m glad I didn’t let the dark clouds stop me from meeting Jen at 3:30pm today.
I’d emailed Jen saying I would be bringing my camera and a small old (lighter) 420 Speedlite flash and Honlphoto 1/2CTO 1/4 cut I velcro attached to the flash head, hoping to match the flash light color with any orange hue from a sunset colored sky.
It turned out we shot more than we hiked. But neither of us cared.
Hero shot! Great jumping Jen.
We didn't do much hiking as you can see.
Jen can just keep jumping.
Can you tell Jen loves dance?
When the flash wouldn't fire we got lucky with this silhouette.
Pretty Lady, thank you for a fun time:-) I'm learning how to have fun.
And now here are some photos Jen Clark shot of me.
I'm not great at the jumping thing:-)
It took me 10 tries attempting to follow Jen's direction to hop up on my right leg and lift my left leg up in front of me. Do you think I could do it?
On our hike………
Even though there had recently been discussion about our hikes taking longer than usual due to an increase in my photo taking, at a point on this morning’s hike, Jen and I both thought we’d like to take 5 minutes for a couple of staged photos with the morning red sky looking so pretty. We wanted the shoot to be brief, ie: quick, so as not to make our hike end up taking too long so Jen can get to work on time.
I say, “Ok but let’s quickly think of something different to do in the shot setup. I’m tired of the shots we’ve been taking lately.”
We talked about today being Halloween and came up with the idea of doing a scary shot where one person is strangling the other. Sounded ok I guess. (All the while my head is thinking about what others would think seeing, yes, another shot of Jen and Ann, on our hike, using the same setup, with the same silly poses (that I love, but I’m sure others are rolling their eyes in the back of their heads saying, “There they go again.”).
With no time to do much, I try to direct their positions, their characters, etc.
“Open your mouth, give me your profiles, and let’s see some action.”
“Look like you mean it.”
“Stop thinking about how you are going to look and get in touch with the character you are portraying.”
“No, you’re smiling. “(I’m a mean director.)
All the while trying to gain focus in the dark.
Trying to keep only half of the on-camera flash from firing. (holding my finger horizontally over the lower part of the flash, hoping to stop the flash from lighting the ground, only lighting the girls from their ankles upward.)
Anyway, I shot about 7 frames and say, “That’s good.”
Later in our hike after Jen and Ann had been sharing some behind the scenes thinking, driven by pride, that needed to be discussed to clear away some misunderstanding during our hike, I shared some of my secretive prideful thinking after I viewed the photos we’d taken.
Here it goes:
Some of the people that follow my blog are REAL photographers.
They’re going to see these photos and see all the light spilling on the ground where it shouldn’t be spilling.
They’re going to realize I was shooting with on-camera flash. On NO!
They’re going to comment on why I didn’t angle the camera down more and include more in the lower third of the photo.
Why does she keep shooting the same shot over and over again.
And I could go on and on with what my head says.
Truth be told I’ve been reading a book that David duChemin recommended titled, The Passionate Photographer. Ten Steps Toward Becoming Great by Steve Simon.
On p. 28, in trying to determine your artist statement, Simon writes, “If you haven’t come up with your own artist statement yet, take some time and find a quiet place for a brainstorming session with yourself. Jot down the common adjectives that describe why you like to shoot with your camera and why. These words will give you the skeleton of an artist statement, which will evolve over time.”
I am evolving over time and having fun with my camera. Learning how to have fun and not worry what others think has been a 21 year long journey.
Why do I keep shooting the girls? Because it’s fun. It makes me happy that they are happy posing, and later happy seeing themselves in the photo. Making others happy, makes me happy, is fun.
Why do I have such a love of photography? Because it’s fun for me.
Too much laughter for a serious shot:-)
Much better acting!
Starting our hike in the dark we all had our cell phone flashlight apps shining out in front of us. The idea came to me that since it's close to Halloween a ghoulish looking photo would be fun.
The girls were trying to look scary. Not. Stacy joined us this morning.
Ann and Jen.
Stacy. Stacy and I hung back from continuing the hike to shoot some color.
Climbing looking for more photo ops.
For anyone who knows me, shadow shots are my signature shot. Linda and Stacy.
Backlit shrubs.